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Had a nice dive on the Mexicana yesterday. After a 4.5 hour boat trip through calm seas we hooked up at about noon. Surface temp was 75F with vis at about 100'. Going down the line there was a murky layer at the (60') butt-cold thermocline (47F), and about 50-60 on the bottom (140). A pretty good .5-1Kt current was running on the first dive but calmed down for the subsequent dives. This ship was originally thought to be the Baruque with subsequent discoveries point to the Mexicana. This is a WWII era wreck and the ship sits upright with most of the deck plating rusted away but much of the framework intact. This is one beautiful wreck, very ghostly as it was dark under the layer of plankton, and with classic lines. Without a doubt one of the prettiest wrecks on the east coast. The goal was to bring up an object thought to be the bell to prove exactly what ship this was. The "bell" was trapped under several loading booms and the concerted effort of six divers with hammers, crowbars and lift bags could not break it loose. Finally the ultimate lift bag was attached to object...The Miss Lindsey. This succeeded in bringing up the object but it turned out to be an ornate binnacle with a bell-shaped bottom. Still a nice find! Also brought up was the rest of the engine room telegraph (the majority was found on a previous dive) one of the compass balls and a couple of other items which still need identifying. Some small articles were found including a brass hand rail, coat hooks, a rack holder, a Mexican silver coin and the key to the ships clock. The fishermen in the crew brought up several lobsters and tautaug. I was giving a Nitek3 a workout. I had a 50/50 stage and 02 bottle and it was fun to watch your deco time disappear as you selected the appropriate mix. The versatility of computer diving showed when my 50/50 reg blew out it's diaphram (U.S. Divers) and I had to go to back mix for my pre-10 foot stops. No problem, I just switched the Nitek3 to back gas and hung longer. Jim ------------------------------------------------------------------- Learn About Trimix at http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/trimix.html -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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